At present gas generation is effected by different methods, such as mechanical, thermal, calorific, etc.
Known in the art is a method of gas generation, based on the use of mechanical energy of a fan driven from an internal combustion propulsive device and of adiabatic expansion (acceleration) of an air stream in a gasdynamic subsonic nozzle (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,567,117; 3,733,029; 3,703,991; 3,774,842).
Said method is noted for simplicity, it can be easily applied for gas generation, and is widely used in plants for producing artificial snow. The implementing of this method, however, involves considerable power expenditures. Furthermore, realization of said method on prior-art plants brings about contamination of the environment with exhausts of the products of incomplete combustion of the chemical fuel of the internal combustion engine.
A method of gas generation is known, based on natural bringing of preliminarily liquefied natural gas to gaseous state under the effect of the ambient temperature. For effecting such a method it is usual to employ a cryogenic agent, which has an ability to pass from the liquid state over to the gaseous one only in the subcritical region, as the working medium. This method is widely used in household appliances, for instance, in portable gas burners. Nevertheless, said method has a very narrow scope of application because of its low energy characteristic and a high explosion hazard presented by the gas stream produced.
Widely known is a method of gas generation, residing in bringing the working medium, coming from a source in the liquid state, over to the gaseous state, this being followed by shaping a gas stream supplied to the consumer.
This method is realized on a plant comprising a source of a working medium, said medium being in the liquid state, said source communicating with a chamber adapted for bringing the working medium to the gaseous state (V. M. Kudryavtsev (Editor), "Osnovy Teorii i Rascheta Zhidkostnykh Raketnykh Dvigatelei"/Theoretical and Design Fundamentals of Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines/. Textbook for college students. 2nd edition, revised ad enlarged, Moscow, Vysshaya Shkola, 1975, pp. 440-456 (in Russian)). As working medium a two-component fuel is used, the ratio of its components providing the required gas temperature. Transition of the working medium from the liquid state to the gaseous one takes place as a result of atomizing, i.e. dividing the working medium into drops, distributing thereof in the chamber, warming-up and evaporating drops, liquefying the vapours of the fuel and oxidant; the chemical reaction: the process of burning proper. The gaseous medium obtained by the above-described method is further shaped into a stream and delivered to the consumer, for instance, to a gas turbine.
Said method is characterized by a high working efficiency of the produced gas stream, which enables its effective utilization in various high-energy high-temperature plants, such as internal combustion engines, gas turbine engines, liquid-propellant rocket engines. However, the use of a chemical or organic fuel leads to the production of a gas stream comprising a large quantity of ecologically noxious products of combustion of the fuel components, this feature lowering materially the effectiveness of using said fuel. Furthermore, the components employed in the working medium are costly, whereas improvements in the design of the prior-art plant for the realization of the above method with a view to eliminating harmful exhausts require large capital expenditures.